In a First, Spanish TV Station Tops English Rival

By SOMINI SENGUPTA

Published: September 16, 1999

''Despierta America'' won out over the ''Montel Williams'' show. ''Maite,'' a talk show whose hostess bears that name, triumphed over ''Jenny Jones.'' ''Tres Mujeres,'' a prime-time soap opera exploring the relationship difficulties of three single women, drew more viewers than did the stern, red-suited captain of ''Star Trek: Voyager.''

For the entire day Tuesday, in a small but revealing sign of the growing influence of Hispanic New Yorkers, the daily Nielsen ratings pulled in by a Spanish-language television station surpassed that of a major English-language broadcast station for the first time in the New York area.

WXTV Channel 41, the New York affiliate of the Spanish-language network Univision, achieved the record by a slim margin, capturing 1.9 percent of the area's 6.8 million television households, compared with 1.8 percent captured by WWOR Channel 9, the local affiliate of the UPN network.

Although UPN has perennially been last in the ratings among the six English-language broadcast networks, the Nielsen figures recorded by Channel 41 on Tuesday nevertheless signaled the continuing growth of the Hispanic television market in the region.

About 15 percent of the area's television households are Hispanic, according to Jack Loftis, a spokesman for the Nielsen group. Hispanic people are the fastest-growing ethnic group in the area, and are now 30 percent of New York City's population.

''Considering the growth in the overall Hispanic population in New York, it is not surprising that the Univision station would be doing well,'' he said. ''The Univision network is programming and marketing itself very aggressively, not just in New York but all over.''

The popularity of Univision, one of two broadcast stations in Spanish in the New York area, is due in large part to its prime-time soap-opera-style mini-series, known in Spanish as telenovelas.

The majority of viewers of the Spanish-language stations in the area speak only Spanish, but just under 20 percent are fluent in both English and Spanish, making them a coveted market for both English and Spanish stations.

Tuesday's record could have had something to do with Hurricane Floyd, which made its way through the Caribbean and Florida. But Ted Faraone, a WXTV spokesman, said that the hurricane was not responsible for the steady gains that the station has made over the past year.

Ratings have steadily gone up during the last few weeks, with Univision capturing between 1.5 and 2 percent of all television households in the area, according to Mr. Faraone. Two weeks ago, it reached a record rating of 2.0, but did not surpass an English-language broadcast network.

By contrast, in October 1998 Univision drew 1.2 percent of all television households in the area, which includes New York City, Long Island, Westchester and parts of New Jersey and Connecticut.

In recent months, there have been days when Channel 41's ratings have beaten those of a major broadcast station during some time periods, but not over the course of an entire day, as it did on Tuesday. In May, a daytime telenovela, ''El Pais de las Mujeres,'' surpassed ''As the World Turns,'' a CBS soap opera, and ''Sunset Beach,'' an NBC soap. During the May sweeps period, Channel 41's 6 P.M. news broadcast had a higher rating than the local news on WCBS Channel 2.

''You have a growing Hispanic population here in New York,'' Mr. Faraone said, ''and ultimately, the ratings will reflect that.''

Average day ratings can be extremely important in setting advertising rates. Officials with WWOR could not be reached for comment. A spokesman for UPN in Los Angeles, Paul McGuire, declined to comment.

Univision's ratings gain in New York, the largest market in the country, follows similar trends elsewhere. Univision affiliates in Miami, Houston and Los Angeles have already drawn more viewers than some network affiliates in English in those cities.

Hispanic people are 11 percent of the country, but critics have said they are largely invisible on network programming. With 49 broadcast stations, Univision is the country's largest Spanish network. It offers a mix of news and entertainment produced in the United States and Latin America.